The present invention relates to motor cooling and in particular to cooling rings rising on an electric spa pump motor case providing cooling for the motor and heat to a spa.
Many people enjoy using portable spas to relax. The combination of water jets provide a massage to tired muscles and heat to sooth the muscles. Unfortunately, such spas often rely on an electric heater to heat the water, and heating costs may be very high. Further, an electric motor is used to circulate water in the spa, and the motors often become very hot, shortening motor life, and sometimes limiting the length of spa use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,373 for “Heat Exchanger for a Pump Motor,” discloses a “C” shaped outer jacket residing over a spa pump motor housing for cooling the motor and adding heat to water circulated by the motor. The jacket of the '373 patent has a “C” shaped cross-section and rests over nearly the entire length of the motor housing to obtain heat transfer.
Other patents including U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,853 for “Heat Exchanger Assembly,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,463 for “Saddle Type Heat Exchanger,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,236 for “Heat Exchanger Jacket for Attachment to an External Surface of a Pump Motor,” U.S. Pat. No. 7,322,103 for “Method of Making a Motor/Generator Cooling Jacket,” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,044 for “Heat Exchanger Apparatus for Electric Motor and Electric Motor Equipped Therewith,” similarly describe jackets residing over most of the motor case. Unfortunately, electric motors commonly used on portable spa pumps include capacitor housings on the outside of the motor housing. Such capacitor housings prevent the known jackets from being used.